Masque of the Dead

Initial Brief

PCs

Debrief

Richard Twine and his companions head in to the Acryn afterlife using a gate opened by brother Tarkus. They find the Serradic souls that have become trapped there and Richard Twine tricks them in to opening a portal to where the Stoic Veil is. The party end up on the other side of the portal after a complicated chain of events but they are followed by a contingent of Serradic souls that have become suspicious of them. They are tested by the Guardian of Acryn and then find the Stoic Veil being ripped apart by the Guardian’s psyche. They rescue the Stoic Veil and win the trust of the Serradics with the help of the god. Back in the Serradic camp Twine borrows the Silent Expectation’s power and send the Serradic souls to their own afterlife. The Stoic Veil explains that to save his brother they must find a soul who can take on the Stoic Veil. To do this they will need his “heart”, which is within the dragon Carleon.

After briefly stopping back in Acryn the party travel to an active volcano in the Blue Peak’s range, where Carleon has touched reality. They travel down through the carverns in to the dragon. Amongst the detritous of ruined souls that the dragon has destroyed they find the Stoic Veil’s heart, which appears as an orb of light. As Richard Twine picks up the orb it shifts in to a mask. He realises in an instant he could put it on but if he did so he would never be able to take it off again. He accepts the Stoic Veil upon himself and finds himself imbued with great power. The party fight past the dragon’s onslaught and leave through the cavern they entered. Outside they meet the Jubliant Mask, who instructs his followers to destroy the entrance to Carleon.

The Stoic Veil leaves with his brother, who reveals the body he was possessing was that of the spy Attia. The remaining party members return to Acryn with Attia, dropping by the church of the Stanchion to explain what has happened. They also meet with Brother Tarkus and tell him the man who owed him a favour is effectively gone. The gods are now aware of the breach in the afterlife and start work on sealing it. Tarkus will now be aware he cannot use this way in or out of the afterlife again.

Consequences

Richard Twine

Richard Twine is gone but not dead. All he was is buried beneath the Stoic Veil. The Stoic Veil returns to Serradis with his brother the Jubliant Mask. It is clear that the damage done by the Ascendant One will take time to heal but it is apparent that the Jubliant Mask is now slowly returning to what he once was.

His old church mostly remains loyal to the Stanchion and the cult has now grown sufficiently that it will endure even with the high priest gone. A significant minority break away from the church and take up worship of the Stoic Veil. Whilst the Stoic Veil is mostly the same as it was before it was devoured by the Ascendent One, the re-ascension has changed the god’s aspects ever so slightly. In particular mages who are favoured by the Stoic Veil may call upon his power to hide their arcane nature. Given Richard Twine’s connection to the Stanchion, there appears to be some some of metaphysical connection between the Stoic Veil and the Stanchion.

Howard

Receives Richard Twine’s equipment.

Owed a favour by the Stoic Veil/ Richard Twine

Brother Miller

40 R

Owed a favour by the Stoic Veil/ Richard Twine

Divine Favour of the Stoic Veil

A particular quirk of the Stoic Veil is that since his return he has granted his followers the skill to disguise the arcane. You may expend a single protomana or mana crystal to disguise a magical artefact or if you are a mage or magical dabbler disguise this fact from an ability that would normally be able to detect this for a single encounter.

Aura

Your connection to your god helps you hide your pain and insequerities. Although from a roleplay perspective you still feel these emotions to their full extent you are able to disguise this fact. Your aura allows you to extend this effect to your party members to allow them to fight on through fear and pain. Mechanically they may call 1 resist fear or rend per encounter.
You may instead choose to take the divine aura of the Stanchion. If you choose this versio you must take the Stanchion version of any miracles where available.